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2008 Mammoth Property Value Confusion |
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Mammoth Times, Pg. 6, "County Assessor Henning clarifies property value confusion", October 3, 2008
Property Taxes Go Up...
"With property values declining over the past year and annual tax bills recently sent to property owners, the Mono County Assessor's office has been receiving numerous inquiries about reducing property values," said Mono County Assessor Jody Henning in a press release to the media dated Oct. 27.
"We are obligated to ensure that property owners are not assessed at a value greter than the current fair market value of their property."
According to Henning, the California law provides us with Revenue & Taxation Code Section 51. Section 51 allows the assessor's office to temporarily reduce assessed values, and what they refer to as a Proposition 8 value to reflect declines in market value, rather than a Proposition 13 value.
The difficult task, Henning says, is determining which assessments should be reduced and which ssessments should be left alone.
All properties are protected under the provisions of Proposition 13, which allows assessed values to increase no more than 2 percent annually as mandated by the State, according to Henning.
In past years, property values have been known to appreciate at rate in excess of the 2 percent inflation factor. In some years properties may have appreciated as much as 20 percent a year. In that case assessed values can be considerably lower than the current fair market value.
"The longer you have your owned property, the more likely you are in this position," said Henning.
Henning said the Assessor's defficult task of determining which properties should be reviewed will begin by identifying all sales and newly built properties occurring since Jan. 1, 2005. Then, sales of comparable properties up to one year prior to and three months after the January 1, 2009 lien date will be analyzed.
"For a reduction to be in order, properties with characteristics similar to the property being considered must have sold for less than the current assessment," Henning said.
"Unless the housing market experiences a significant additional decline, properties purchased before Jan. 1, 2005 will likely not qualify for a reduction in value."
If any reduction of value is made under Proposition 8 guidelines, the property must be reviewed each Jan. 1 lien date.
As the Proposition 8 value represents current fair market value, it can fluctuates from year to year without limitation, to reflect changes in the market. The original factored base year value will be restored once the current fair market value exceeds that base year value.
"Because real estate values may be down over the last year, not all property owners can expect their assessment to be reduced. Again, it will depend on when you entered the market and purchased or built your home," Henning said.
"We will automatically review all sales and newly built residences occurring since Jan. 1, 2005. Details will be more clear once we begin our review shortly after the New Year with hopes of completing the review with the close of the tax roll in late June, 2009."
If your property falls into the categories stated above, and your assessed value is reduced, you will receive notification from the Assessor's office advising you of your new assessed value for the 2009-2010 tax bill.
Tax bills received to date remain due and payable by the dates noted theron. Call the Assessor's Office with questions at (760) 932-5510 or e-mail Assessor@mono.ca.gov .
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